Dale Cresap's blog

Is your church your only source of spiritual life? I hope your pastor would not approve of this. It is beneficial for you to have regular direct contact with a particular group of other believers, that you not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. It is not good for man to be alone applies to more than marriage. You make the job of your adversaries easier if you are isolated. But you should think of your life in me as continuous rather than in periodic episodes. My word teaches that when you come together that everyone should bring something to contribute and implies that they should have the opportunity. It is more blessed to give than to receive applies to more than money. 

When you first heard the gospel message, were you presented with an image of God the Father eager to pour out his wrath of judgment upon you for your sins, but Jesus on the cross standing in between to save you? This presents a false image. I came to reveal the Father. My disciples asked me to show them the Father and I said he who had seen me had seen the Father. On another occasion I declared that I and my Father were one. Still again I said that the Father himself loves you. The Father and I are not at cross purposes concerning you. What more could I say? How could I make it any clearer?

Do you like to have a day off? Paid holidays are very popular and even those who do not celebrate the event in question don’t turn down the opportunity to take a day off. I gave my people a day off and called it the Sabbath. It was meant to be a day of restoration, but those who administered it added so many rules that the day that was meant to be the least stressful was turned into the most stressful. When I came I spoke to my disciples on this issue, teaching them that the Sabbath was for healing and doing good; a time to release burdens rather than take them up. Review your own practices of faith to be sure they give life. 

During my ministry on earth I spoke to the people in parables. My disciples were perplexed by this. In some cases I would explain the parables to them, and at the end of my ministry I spoke clearly to them at last. Do you know that I still teach in parables? Parables are stories and I teach you through the story of your life as you live it. I do this for everyone, but as my disciple you have the special privilege that I will declare the parables to you if you ask. You will go through the experiences either way. You can maximize the benefit you receive from them if you look for my purpose in them and listen for my voice to teach you through them. 

Do you understand the mysteries of the faith? These aren’t things you understand in the conventional sense. Your culture operates under the assumption that everything yields to rational analysis. You may not be able to do the problems in your calculus textbook, but you assume that if you had the skill and ability you could, and that every problem can solved by people who are smart enough. Some things are held in tension between time and eternity; between this world and the next. Mysteries are like this. It is good to engage with them even if you can’t figure them out. Hold them with a clear conscience.

Do you think joy and happiness are the same thing? Joy is a Biblical concept but the Bible says little about happiness, but those around you, even your fellow believers, mention happiness more than joy. Happiness is an emotional state and as such it is more a response than a cause, and can fluctuate according to conditions. Joy has a basis and is therefore more enduring. I told my disciples to rejoice not that the demons were subject to them, but to rejoice that their names were written in the Book of Life. This enduring condition applies to you as well and you can and should rejoice for the same reason. Do you want to be happy? Reflect on all the reasons you have to rejoice and do so. Then happiness will flow out of the fullness of your joy. 

Are you familiar with the concept of karma? Good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Grace is undeserved favor, getting good things you didn’t deserve. Doesn’t that sound like a better deal than karma? Yet if you mention the two terms anywhere other than in a church you can expect a more favorable response for karma. The Biblical term for this is righteousness by works of the law. Why is grace offensive? There is something in human nature that wants to be deserving, that wants a reward for effort. A free gift seems too good to be true. But to accept it is to forever acknowledge dependence and the end of self-improvement projects by your own effort. The death that this involves is the only way to eternal life. 

Do you understand that if you are saved you will go to heaven when you die? Yet the Bible teachers assure you that eternal life is available now. Do you see how both of these can be true? For the Bible teaches you to lay down your life and die to yourself that you may follow me. Have you read these passages and considered them a fearful burden? I want you to see them in a positive light. It is true that death and eternity are connected, but you don’t have to wait until the end of your life to experience either one. If you are willing to apply these passages you can have eternal life now if you die now. 

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Do you think of this as a statement with deep and dark meaning? You could also view it in a very simple sense, that where you spend your money is a true indicator of the condition of your heart. Some people are spendthrifts, but even those who are otherwise frugal tend to have an area in which they spend freely. What you value is an indication of your values. Your area of greatest spending isn’t necessarily an idol, but it is a good place to start looking for them. If your heart is in my Kingdom you will demonstrate it by generosity with your treasure. 

Are you skeptical of the story of Jonah because you think it is a fish story? Yet I mentioned it in reference to the similarities to my own story. You could look beyond the fish to see the real essence of the story is about a reluctant prophet. I called Jonah to serve me and he did it under protest, to put it mildly. He was my prophet but he was full of prejudice and he did not share my values. My word teaches you to love your enemies and I was trying to teach Jonah the same lesson, which he was slow to learn. Do you look upon your enemies as a ministry opportunity and rejoice when they respond and I pour out grace upon them? I'm leaving town for a few days.